News Archive - 2015

UV light damages DNA. But LMU researchers now show that it can also mediate non-enzymatic repair of one type of damage, albeit in a specific context. This effect may have played vital role in early evolution of living systems.

LMU chemists have developed novel porous materials called “covalent organic frameworks”, which provide a basis for the design of polymeric photocatalysts with tunable physical, chemical and electronic properties.

LMU-scientists have developed a new class of molecular motors that rotate unidirectionally at speeds of up to 1 kHz when exposed to sunlight at room temperature. This unique combination of features opens up novel applications in nano-engineering.

Chemists at LMU have fabricated a novel nanosheet-based photonic crystal that changes color in response to moisture. The new material could form the basis for humidity-sensitive contactless control of interactive screens on digital devices.

LMU chemists have developed a novel pyrotechnic formulation that produces a blue flame of unprecedented purity and radiance upon combustion, and is free of the toxic chlorine-containing compounds found in conventional fireworks.

LMU chemists report the first total synthesis of the natural product epicolactone, which is found in certain species of endophytic fungi. The data shed light on its biosynthesis and reveal its relationship to the pigment purpurogallin.

A German-French team has developed a light-sensitive switch that regulates a protein implicated in the neurobiology of synaptic plasticity. The agent promises to shed new light on the phenomenology of learning, memory and neurodegeneration.

LMU chemists have developed photoresponsive derivatives of an antimitotic drug, which permit light-dependent control of cell division. The new agents could provide the basis for precisely targeted tumor therapies, free of side-effects.

On the issue of „Biomedical Potentials of Inorganic Nanomaterials“, the LMU and Fudan University organized a German-Chinese Young Researcher Workshop in Shanghai. It focused on the application of inorganic nanoparticles for various biomedical purposes

LMU researchers have developed a biomimetic access to santalin Y, a structurally intriguing yellow pigment found in red sandalwood. The final phase of the synthesis involves a novel sequence of chemical reactions.

The deadly Ebola virus makes use of host mechanisms – including a specific type of membrane-bound calcium channel – to gain entry into the cell cytoplasm. LMU researchers now show that blocking this channel markedly inhibits infection.